News

Ludgate House Skyscraper Unveiled

The Carlyle Group is shortly to submit a planning application to redevelop a key site on London's South Bank that is presently occupied by two hulking groundscrapers.

The site, which takes in Sampson House and Ludgate House, sits to the south east of Blackfriars Bridge between the approved skyscraper at 1 Blackfriars and the Tate Modern.

Designed by KPF defectors, PLP Architecture, Carlyle intends to develop nine new buildings that rise in height from east to west towards the approved 160 metre tall former Beetham Tower that marks the existing height ceiling for this part of Southwark. The pinnacle on the north-western part of the site will be a 48-storey residential tower that will be approximately 160 metres tall.

Between this and the cluster of medium and low-rise buildings there will be a total of 492 new apartments, plus 3,500 square metres of public space to open the site up. Bounding these public areas will be 2,500 square metres of retail and a further 1,800 square metres set aside for cultural or artistic uses.

The project development will be phased with the planning application relating to the western part of the site and with a 15-storey office building and a 12-storey residential building in addition to the tower. Work is expected to start on the Ludgate House portion of the site first once it is vacated by current occupier UBM in 2015. IBM is not due to leave Sampson House until 2018 unless they get their lease bought out meaning the scheme could take a decade or more to be built.